Daily Recap — March 19

TRUMP GETS A FIGHTER

The late Mr. Cohn, of course, was a lawyer for Sen. Joe McCarthy and mentor to a young Donald Trump. He could smell a commie a mile away and knew what to do with them were they unlucky enough to fall into his grasp. Cohn is a highly controversial figure to the Left, mostly because he gave back to them even better than he got. And more importantly, because he got results. Above all, though, Cohn was a fighter. That’s something PDT has longed for since arriving to D.C.; something he’s sorely needed to push back against the silent coup that’s been raging since he raised his right hand.

It appears that he may have found his man.

PDT is hiring longtime Washington lawyer Joseph diGenova, a man despised by the Left every much as Cohn, and for most of the same reasons. Mr. DiGenova has been one of the few in D.C. who dare suggest that the FBI is seeking to frame Trump, regardless of the accompanying persona non grata status such a claim renders within the Washington cocktail circuit. And just as ol’ Roy had a nose for those commie infiltrators. diGenova can smell the Deep State with his nose tied behind his back.

Fellow fighter Jay Sekulow welcomed diGenova to the Trump legal team with open arms:

“Former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Joe diGenova will be joining our legal team later this week,” Jay Sekulow, a counsel to the president, said in a statement. “I have worked with Joe for many years and have full confidence that he will be a great asset in our representation of the President.”

The hiring was first reported by the failing New York Times, which wrote that diGenova is unlikely to take a lead role on the team, but that he would add an “aggressive presence.”

It’s an aggressive presence that’s been around for many months now. There can be little doubt as to where diGenova stands on this whole stinkin’ mess, as he was unambiguous in remarks to Fox News back in January:

“There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,” he gloriously said on national television for all to hear.

“Make no mistake about it: A group of FBI and DOJ people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime,” he said.

This move seems to fit nicely with PDT’s new overall posture toward the King Bob probe, which could best be described as “Enough of this crap.” Trump is increasingly signaling he intends to go in a different direction with his legal strategy, and this weekend began, for the first time, attacking Mueller by name.

Trump’s lawyers had previously begged him not to attack Mueller, lest they fall victim for his unchecked and unlimited powers. Adding diGenova suggests PDT is tired of all the defensiveness and plans to go more on offense; a move that may be unsettling to guy like Twinkletoes Graham but is welcomed with open arms by the true Trump base, who have had their fill of the dog and pony show they’ve been subjected to for the last year.

PDT definitely set the tone on Twitter over the weekend and bleeding into today, stating plainly that the King Bob witch hunt “should have never been started.”

“There was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary [Clinton] and the [Democratic National Committee], and improperly used in [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!” Trump tweeted.

The new aggressive posture seems to be contagious, as previously docile lawyer John Dowd over the weekend also called on Deputy Attorney General Fraud Rosenstein to shut down the #PutinGate probe.

However, as is so often the case, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley put out a completely different signal, saying there are “no conversations or discussions about removing” Mueller. He then reiterated for the 40000th time that no collusion happened, not that it will make any difference to our coochie-capped friends.

BOTTOM LINE: Things are about to get very interesting. Team Trump looks poised to launch a major offensive, and it just so happens to be coming at a time when more and more corruption is set to be revealed regarding Deep State antics leading up to and following the 2016 election.

Timing is rarely a coincidence with this president, and I hardly think one is at play here. The other side has shot most of their good ammo, and the Donald has yet to even get his weapon zeroed. There are going to be a lot of casualties in this fight, and many of them will be from the previous administration.

Trump was never just going to let this go. Anyone who thought that was kidding themselves, or lulled into a foolish complacency. This is where bullets start flying in the other direction, and they’re certain to come with #FireAndFury.

Buckle up.

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AUSTIN ON EDGE

Texas has a serial bomber on its hands, and things are getting worse by the day.

The number of bombings has increased to four and investigators said they have no clear idea what is motivating the attacks, which began 17 days ago, and have publicly reached out to the bomber, urging him or her to contact them and explain what his demands are.

The first three devices were parcel bombs dropped off at night in front of homes on Austin’s east side, with the fourth a trip wire device that went off in a west side neighborhood yesterday. According to the cops, all four devices were similar, which likely points to a single suspect or group.

“We are clearly dealing with what we expect to be a serial bomber at this point,” Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters near the last bombing site.

Two men were injured by yesterday’s bomb, which police believe to have been activated by a trip wire across a sidewalk. It was a more advanced design than the previous bombs.

The men, 22 and 23 years old, were taken to a hospital with what police described as “substantial” but not life-threatening injuries.

Manley said more than 500 federal agents were involved in the investigation, including from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

That’s a lot of folks.

“There is an army of law enforcement folks on the scene right now,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said. “I am confident that we’re going to find whoever is responsible for this and then we’re going to stop it.”

FBI agents have swept the relatively affluent neighborhood called Travis Country where Sunday’s bomb exploded and asked residents for home surveillance videos, residents said. It’s not readily clear whether any have been offered.

What do we know about motive?

About the same amount we know about the Las Vegas shooter’s motive. The targets don’t provide for a quick psychological profile of the bomber, at least not yet.

The first bombing, on March 2, killed Anthony Stephan House, a 39-year-old black man. It ripped a hole in a home entrance wall and damaged the front door.

A bomb last Monday morning killed Draylen Mason, a 17-year-old black teenager and budding musician, and injured his mother, who is in her 40s but was not further identified. A few hours later, a third bomb injured a 75-year-old Hispanic woman, who has not been identified.

Austin police, ever discouraged and frustrated, are reaching out to the bomber him/herself in the hopes of learning the motivation behind the attacks.

“The person is actually trying to provoke fear and that is made worse by simply not giving information about why,” said Robert Pape, an international security expert who police have trotted out in an attempt to bait the attacker.

“There has not been an effort from the attacker to get publicity, and quite a few attackers are interested in what they see as glory and attention,” Pape said in a telephone interview.

In other words, this guy doesn’t fit their profile. Most serial bombers, like the Unabomber for example, have an agenda of some sort and use violence to get their point across. But there doesn’t seem to be any of that here. For all the cops know, this bomber does his deeds for no other reason than to kill, which is the scariest type of terrorist. Those who just want to watch the world burn, so to speak, make life very hard for investigators trying to guess their next move.

Chief Manley has said the bombings were being investigated as possible hate crimes, but cautioned that Sunday’s attack did not appear to have targeted specific people, and both victims were white.

A reward of $115,000 has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible. Let’s hope that money is collected soon. This scumbag seems to be getting better as he goes along. Austin can’t afford to absorb anymore of his progress.

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TRUMP VS. OPIOIDS

PDT gave a big speech today regarding our way forward in combating the opioid epidemic, but it wasn’t all about Percocet. One fact came through loud and clear; that there is no difference in the fight against opioid addiction and the need to secure our borders. This administration will treat both problems as stripes of the same horse.

PDT unveiled his plan to combat the epidemic in New Hampshire, a state that’s been hit hard by the epidemic and one that PDT once referred to as a “drug-infested den.” He spent a good chunk of his speech slamming sanctuary cities, promoting policies to beef up border security and blaming the DACA failure on Democrats.

“They don’t want to go with DACA because they don’t care about DACA, but they’re trying to tie the wall to DACA, and DACA to the wall,” Trump said. “And they want to keep DACA for the campaign instead of getting it approved, which we could do very easily.”

He added: “We’ll make it part of the campaign also, and we’ll win because we’re going to win on those issues.”

“Ninety percent of the heroin in America comes from our southern border, where eventually the Democrats will agree with us, and we’ll build the wall to keep the damn drugs out,” PDT said matter-of-factly.

Sounds like he’s ready to hit the campaign trail.

As with every other problem he inherited, PDT definitely has his work cut out for him.

Deaths involving opioids increased nearly 28% from 2015 to 2016. We lose more people every year to opioid addiction than we did the entirety of the Vietnam War, and more than we lose in car accidents every year. Addiction advocates have been calling on Congress and the administration to reverse this trend by bolstering treatment, prevention and recovery services — and shying away from a law enforcement approach.

PDT doesn’t exactly see eye to eye with them on that point.

In his speech, PDT wasn’t shy to take the law enforcement approach, calling for some drug traffickers to face the death penalty and bringing up statistics aimed at bolstering the point that tougher border security measures are needed to stop illegals from entering the country.

“Ending sanctuary cities is crucial to stopping the drug addiction crisis,” Trump said, and, in an impromptu move, brought an ICE agent up on stage to say brief remarks.

So what is this plan, anyway?

Today’s speech marked the unveiling of the White House’s plan to combat the opioid epidemic, consisting of a three-pronged approach: reducing the demand and over-prescription of opioids, cutting off the supply of illegal drugs and boosting access to treatment.

The plan aims to reduce the number of opioid prescriptions by 1/3 over three years. It also includes measures to increase access to addiction treatment and incentivize states to move to a national database monitoring opioid prescriptions to help flag people requesting numerous prescriptions.

In the controversial move, the plan seeks stiffer penalties for high-volume drug traffickers, which includes a mandate to the Department of Justice to seek the death penalty when appropriate under current law.

A Justice Department official wrote in an email that, “under current law, the federal death penalty is available for several limited drug-related offenses—for example through violations of the ‘drug kingpin’ provisions in 18 USC 3591(b) and 21 USC 848(e).”

“If we don’t get tough on the drug dealers, we’re wasting our time,” said Trump, who is known for his affection for the tough policies of Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, who kills drug dealers on the spot.

Of course, our Congress being what it is, any kind of tough action toward drug pushers will be met with fierce resistance, especially from Dims. Sen, Dick Turban (D-IL) got things rolling with a condescending lecture toward the POTUS:

“We cannot arrest our way out of the opioid epidemic — we tried that and ended up with an even bigger addiction problem and the world’s largest prison population,” Turban said in a statement. “Everyone from doctors to law enforcement understands that addiction is a disease, not a moral failing that can be beaten simply by getting ‘tough on crime.’

Yeah yeah yeah. He’s just looking for another excuse not to #BuildTheWall.

Here’s to hoping our elected leaders start giving a damn about our country.

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SOCIALISM NEVER PAYS

The White House has been no friend of the socialist regime in Venezuela, and that certainly isn’t changing.

PDT signed an executive order this afternoon implementing additional financial sanctions on Venezuelan government officials. In addition, the order bars American citizens from doing business with the country.

Section1. (a) All transactions related to, provision of financing for, and other dealings in, by a United States person or within the United States, any digital currency, digital coin, or digital token, that was issued by, for, or on behalf of the Government of Venezuela on or after January 9, 2018, are prohibited as of the effective date of this order.

(b) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted before the effective date of this order.

Sec.2. (a) Any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.

(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.

These new sanctions are against four Venezuelan government officials involved in corruption and economic mismanagement.

“This is a new expansion and prohibition from where we were before,” a senior White House official said.

The new sanctions come as the regime of President Nicolas Madura continues a crackdown against civilians in the country. The government is rationing power and the majority of the country is out of sufficient food and medical supplies.

It turns out that Hugo Chavez wasn’t the great leader Oliver Stone told us he was. Socialism sucks. It never works People are eating horses in the street.

Don’t be socialists, people.

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STICKING IT TO GYNA

PDT made a living on the campaign trail talking tough toward China. It helped him to wrest a who slew of Rust Belt Democrats from the hands of Nancy and Cryin’ Chuck. And now, he’s putting that talk into action.

This coming Friday, PDT will announce a host of new tariffs on Chinese imports.

Four administration officials reportedly told the failing Washington Post that the tariffs will be applied to more than 100 products the president argues were developed “by using trade secrets the Chinese stole from U.S. companies or forced them to hand over in exchange for market access.”

You hear that, folks? You know all the whining that’s been done about China stealing our intellectual property (innovation)? Someone is finally doing something about it.

Because there is no loyalty in the GOP, It it remains to be seen how Republicans will react to the new plan, especially considering the bipartisan backlash his recently-implemented tariffs on steel and aluminum imports garnered.

Where the Trump economic team stands is equally hard to gauge. Larry Kudlow, the president’s new National Economic Council director, has openly stated his opposition to the prior set of tariffs, yet has urged Trump to take a “tough” economic stance on China. If he has another idea for how to get tough, I’m sure PDT is all ears.

Something tells me they would have found fault with whatever he did, however it was implemented.

While we can never tell just how much support we’ll get on the Hill, one this is for sure: PDT is poised to take it to China just as hard as he’s taking it to Mueller.

That’s two “untouchable” targets within the same week. I suppose we’ll find out just how invincible they are.

Give ’em Hell, PDT.

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ANOTHER SHUTDOWN LOOMING?

Of all the things one would think Congress could get it together for, spending tons of taxpayer cash would seem to top the list. But it appears that they can’t even do that right.

Lawmakers have until midnight Friday to approve a spending bill or see the government’s funding authority lapse for the *third* time this year. Negotiations on the roughly $1.3 trillion legislation to fund the government through the end of September have reportedly slowed, despite Congress reaching a deal earlier this year setting spending levels.

Congress may create more last-minute fireworks this week as possible disagreements over both major issues loom. If these worthless politicians cannot release a spending bill early this week, they’ll have to pass yet another short-term funding bill to avoid a shutdown.

How the hell did we get here?

Welp, like this. Congress has already passed five stopgap spending bills during the current fiscal year amid squabbles over a longer-term agreement. Lawmakers finally broke through last month, when they approved a bill that would allow them to increase spending on defense and domestic programs by about $300 billion over two years. In exchange for increased military spending, Democrats forced more domestic funds, which dealt with things like the opioid crisis and infrastructure..

The last big government shut down ended in humiliation for Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, as he inexplicably believed that Americans would be ok with shutting down the government for illegal aliens. It ended in its third day as Schumer agreed to open the government back up in exchange for little more than a promise from Turtle McConnell to have an open debate on immigration plans. They had the debate; Dims wanted to part of it, even with a path to citizenship for nearly 2 million illegals on the table.

Every Senate proposal failed, as PDT pushed for conditions Democrats deemed “unacceptable,” like — *gasp* moving toward merit-based immigration policy. So, so radical. Chain migration and the visa lottery were non-negotiable for Dims, which shows just how serious they were about coming to the table.

Alas, government funding lapsed again last month, if only for a few hours. While overall partisan gridlock contributed to the shutdown, midget Rand Paul took lawmakers over the brink as he single-handedly held up a Senate vote on a stopgap bill. Paul objected to the budget plan because of the military-for-domestic spending deal between Pubs and Dims.

Eh, at least he’s principled.

Congress eventually passed the budget proposal along with a continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government through this Friday, which brings us to here.

So what’s the friggin problem now?

Pretty much the same problems as before. Immigration remains a big point of contention and seemingly impossible to make progress with.

The bill this week is unlikely to include any provisions to extend protections for Dacamanians, which PDT ended in September with a six-month delay. The Trump administration floated pairing money for #TheWall with DACA funds, but the idea fell flat. Not to mention, it’s hard to use DACA as leverage when the activist courts have left it in place, at least until the SCOTUS can slap them down (again).

Yesterday, the White House offered a 30-month extension of DACA in exchange for $25 billion for Trump’s proposed border wall. Dims wanted protections for more illegals than Republicans were willing to accept, so the request fell through.

Some Republicans have pushed for the bill to include more spending for immigration enforcement. Others want to add a provision that would allow the Trump administration to take funding away from sanctuary cities. Democrats, of course, are unlikely to back either proposal.

The other big issue is BarryCare. Some Democrats and Republicans want to include provisions to help lower health-care premium costs on Barrycare exchanges. Conservatives have objected to this measure, as it’s more or less a way to prop up a flaming turd of a law. Some Republicans also want to bar subsidies for insurers who cover abortion, which has a lot of support from the religious right of the party, who still carry a substantial stick (evangelicals get out and vote).

The real battle, though, is over the subsidies. Congress is going to have to make a tough decision, and soon. We’re either going to begin a vicious cycle of bailing out insurance companies to keep BarryCare alive, which will cost us untold trillions if allowed to become the new norm, or someone is going to show a little spin and tear that band-aid off in one fell swoop.

Soooooo…….will we start a perpetual bailout program for BarryCare? Will Dims come to the table to get reasonable DACA concessions in exchange for #Wall funding? Are we going to put out another pitiful, piecemeal stopgap budget just to hold us over until the next shutdown food fight?

I suppose we’ll know by the end of this week.

Pray for a miracle.

There it is, homeskillet. You know the drill: questions, comments, concerns, memes, insults, compliments, stickers, jokes, emojis and, if we have time, complaints.

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1 thought on “Daily Recap — March 19”

Understandably great is the way I describe your recaps. Genius at explaining complicated plots. As maddening as it is learning about the Dimwits plans—especially BarryCare. I realize this is going to sound mean spirited but why do we promote free healthcare to illegals? That doesn’t happen in countries with National Health Care— if you aren’t on a visitor passport, guess what? No treatment. Of course, refguess are given health care, & they cause chaos in hospitals. Well, I will end on that note, socialism isn’t good for many reasons.